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On February 1, U.S. District Court Judge John J. Thorp ordered that minor party candidates for U.S. House, 2nd district, should not be required to obtain more than 3,444 valid signatures to be included in the April 2013 special election. The deadline is Monday, February 4, so there is a possibility that either the Green Party nominee, LeAlan Jones, or the independent candidate, Marcus Lewis, or anyone else, might succeed in surmounting this requirement by the deadline. The case is Jones v McGuffage, 12C-9997, northern district.

Without the court order, the requirement would have been 15,682. The basis for the 3,444 figure is that Illinois only requires 5,000 signatures for U.S. House independents and unqualified parties in years after redistricting, and the judge said a special election is such an unplanned event, a special election is analogous to an election held the year after redistricting. And because normally 90 days are permitted for petitioning in Illinois, and in this special election only 62 days are allowed, 62/90ths times 5,000 equals 3,444.

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It’s a concrete victory for any candidate who can get 3,444 valid signatures on February 2, 3, and 4. The SWP is a disciplined party but if it hadn’t been planning on petitioning, it probably doesn’t have the petition forms available. So realistically, since it’s too late today to get the forms, and they probably aren’t available on the weekend, only the two candidates who already were petitioning have a realistic chance of making it.

Richard, do you know if the ILGP has been petitioning all along or if they expected to be put on the ballot? LeAlan Jones is a fantastic candidate and I hope they didn’t expect to be handed ballot access. I bet he could retain 2nd District access for 2014 if he can get on the ballot.